Shaman system
The Breath of Fire II shamans are an interesting and unique part of the game. While 'gathering' them is not necessary to complete the game, they are an interesting aspect to the combat system. Essentially elemental magic users who can be fused with characters to enhance or change their abilities, the Shamans are scattered through out the game and the story. There are 6 Shamans in the game: 5 hidden throughout the world and 1 in the final dungeon near Ryu's hometown. The Fire shaman (Sana) is the first one that Ryu meets, and she accidentally unlocks his ability to transform into a baby dragon. Left to right (in the picture to the right) they are: *Solo: the Earth Shaman *Seny (Seiny in Japan): the Holy Shaman *Shin: the Devil Shaman *Seso (Sesso in Japan): the Water Shaman *Sana (Sanamo in Japan): the Fire Shaman *Spoo (Spoona in Japan): the Wind Shaman The only 2 characters of Breath of Fire 2 that can't be enhanced are Ryu and Bleu (aka Deis). Locations: *Sana (Sanamo in the retranslation) — Sana, the Fire Shaman, is the first Shaman you find and one of the only two Shamans required to advance in the game. She's found along with her grandmother upon returning to Capitan after receiving the blessing from Ray. Sana's initial attempt to fuse with Ryu briefly causes him to transform into his Fire Dragon form, destroying the surrounding woods as well as Sana's house, causing them to move in at Township and allow the player to progress the game. \ This event also unlocks Ryu's Puppy spells. *Seso (Sesso in the retranslation) — Seso, the Water Shaman, is initially trapped as a stone statue in Witch Tower. After defeating Nimufu, going back to the tower will allow the player to recruit her. *Spoo (Spoona in the retranslation) — Spoo is the Wind Shaman and is found in the Sky Tower, being responsible for the strange weather phenomena there. Upon reaching her at the end and talking to her, she will go back to TownShip. Because this is necessary to progress, Spoo is the only Shaman besides Sana who must be acquired to complete the game. *Seny (Saynie in the retranslation) — Seny, the Holy Shaman, can be found in Bando after the party has gained access to the Grand Church in Evrai. She can be found by returning to Bando and going into the first cell. Alternatively, she can be found by extending the corridor past the fifth door five times on the first visit to Bando. Seny is the only Shaman to provide no bonus on her own, though her providing access to some of the most powerful advanced forms more than makes up for this. *Solo (Sollo in the retranslation) — Solo, the Earth Shaman, is significantly different in appearance from the other Shamans and the only Shaman who can be permanently missed. When prompted by the storyline, the player must give 20 donations at the shrine in Namanda. Return to Rand's hometown after Daisy is killed and Solo will be standing in the fields. *Shin (Synne in the retranslation) — Shin, the Devil Shaman, is the last Shaman who can be unlocked and one of the easiest to acquire. Entering the left entrance of Infinity will put the player directly in front of her. Many of the most powerful advanced forms require Shin. Transformations: Each Shaman, save for Seny, will boost one of the fused party member's stats by 25% of what it was when the fusion was conducted: *Sana boosts Attack by 25% of the party member's base Strength. *Seso boosts Wisdom by 25%, but cannot break the normal 255 cap on Wisdom. It is thus possible for Seso alone to do nothing if the character has already maximized their Wisdom. *Spoo boosts Vigor by 25% of the party member's base Agility. *Solo boosts Defense by 25% of the party member's base Stamina. *Shin boosts AP by 25%. *Fusing with Seny alone does nothing. Not all party members are capable of fusing with all Shamans. In addition to this, certain pairings will produce a recolored form of the character which modifies the bonus, usually for the better: *Sten fused with Sana alone, or with Sana and Seny, will gain a 37.5% boost to his Attack. *Sten fused with Sana and Solo will gain a 37.5% boost to his Attack and a 20% boost to his Defense. *Rand fused with Solo alone will gain a 40% boost to his Defense. *Nina fused with Spoo alone will gain a 52.5% boost to her Vigor. *Nina fused with Sana and Spoo will gain a 12.5% boost to her Attack and a 52.5% boost to her Vigor. *Nina fused with Seso and Spoo will gain a 22.5% boost to her Wisdom and a 52.5% boost to her Vigor. *Spar fused with Shin alone will gain a 50% boost to his AP. *Spar fused with Spoo and Shin will gain a 50% boost to his AP and a 27.5% boost to his Vigor. The third stage of Shaman fusion, and the primary reason to use the system, is combinations that produce a complete overhaul in the character's design. Each of these forms boosts all of the character's parameters, not just the ones of the Shamans used, and potentially changes both their combat ability and out-of-combat ability. If a character can attain a transformation through multiple possible combinations of Shamans, the stat boosts are somewhat different for each version. *Katt fused with Shin, either alone or with Sana, Seso or Spoo as a second partner, transforms into a black-skinned cat woman who fights using kicks. Her combat ability is changed to "Keep", which causes her to charge energy for one turn and then attack with 200%, 237%, 274%, or 300% normal Attack on the next turn, breaking the Attack cap. Katt cannot swing her staff to break objects or hunt in this form, but gains the highest Attack and Vigor of any party member by an overwhelming margin. Katt fused with Shin and Sana is the only character capable of hitting the maximum cap on Attack, by raising her Strength to 255 before the fusion and equipping her with the MeowST / Kitty Staff. *Nina fused with Spoo and Seny transforms into a blue-haired angel with much larger wings and a more elaborate appearance. In this form Nina hovers slightly off the ground at all times. Her Will ability is replaced with Bnsh, allowing her to force enemies to flee from battle, though her enormous supply of AP in this form more than makes up for the loss of Will. This form actually gains slightly less Wisdom than by fusing with Seso, at 22.5%, but as Wisdom can be boosted to 255 without Shamans this is not a hindrance. Nina's abilities do not change, and she can still call the Great Bird in this form until Infinity is opened. *Bow fused with Seny and Shin transforms into a large robot with a cannon for a right arm. His Shot ability is replaced with Spry, allowing him to attack all enemies at once for normal physical damage, though he cannot land critical hits with this ability. Bow can still hunt in this form, with his shots in the hunting minigame traveling farther and faster than in his normal form. While powerful, this form means giving up most of the other powerful forms unless the player uses him with Rand and Sten. *Sten fused with Sana and Spoo transforms into a hovering, legless efreeti creature who attacks by throwing fireballs. His RIP ability is replaced with Sweh, which if used during a random encounter restarts it as another random encounter from the area list. This form is thus useful for acquiring certain enemy drops. However, Sten cannot extend his arms in this form, so any shortcuts or gates that require this ability cannot be used. *Rand fused with Solo and either Seso, Seny or Sana as a second partner transforms into a small horned armadillo creature. His Wake ability is not replaced, but he loses the ability to roll in this form. *Jean fused with Seny, either alone or with Seso or Spoo as a second partner, transforms into a much taller and more regal frogman resembling a knight. His Jab ability is replaced with Chop, which charges for one turn and then attempts to deal 999 damage to all enemies on screen, though it can miss. Jean can still transform into a frog in this state. *Spar is unusual in that he has three separate fusion forms, all of which retain his treewalking ability: **Spar fused with Seso, either alone or with Spoo, Seny or Shin as a second partner, transforms into a cute pink-haired girl with a mushroom-shaped hat which she throws to attack. Her Ntre ability is replaced with Spor, a copy of the SwtBrth spell except it costs no AP to use and has a chance of backfiring to target the party instead. **Spar fused with Solo, either alone or with Seso, transforms into a small bulb with a pair of feet and nothing else. His Ntre ability is replaced with Bud, which spends one turn charging before Spar spends the next four rounds making physical attacks at double normal Attack against random enemy targets. Like Keep, this can break the Attack cap. **Spar fused with Sana and Shin transforms into a mixture of tree and dragon. His Ntre ability is not replaced. Undoing transformation In case you no longer need a transformation or require a character's base form to progress, you can use the DivideBL item to undo the transformation. You can also undo transformations in the uniting chamber in Township. Transformation is automatically undone if the character enters critical HP, is knocked unconscious, or zombified. File:Katt_BoF2_Transformed.jpg|Katt (Shin) File:Nina_BoF2_Trans.jpg|Nina (Seny and Spoo) File:Bow_BoF2_Trans.jpg|Bow (Seny and Shin) File:Sten_BoF2_Trans.jpg|Sten (Sana and Spoo) File:Rand_BoF2_Trans.jpg|Rand (Solo and Sana) File:Jean_BoF2_Trans.jpg|Jean (Seny) File:Spar_BoF2_Trans_1.jpg|Spar (Seso) File:Spar_BoF2_Trans_2.jpg|Spar (Sana and Shin) File:Spar_BoF2_Trans_3.jpg|Spar (Solo) Category:Breath of Fire Systems Category:Breath of Fire II Systems